New Beginnings

It has almost been a year since I officially left FFXI. Three more days to be exact. Since then I have tried a multitude of different online games. Up to now, none of them have felt like FFXI first did when I walked through the Kingdom of San d'oria.

I will be starting my journey on The Elder Scrolls Online in six more days. This is the first MMO I have been excited about in a very long time. I have been a part of the closed beta since October and I am very impressed from what I have seen and where the game has come from.

I will be starting a Guild for TESO upon launch and I encourage all of the members from ShieldofValor and the various other Linkshells that I was apart of to join me. I think this game truly offers something that many MMOs miss out on.

As I start on this journey, I hope to blog throughout the coming months-years here and starting with the opening day of early access I will change the name of this blog. Maybe, just maybe I wont die as much in this game. lol

Also some eye candy from the beta:

Fading in the sunset.

Well it is time. After years of playing and exploring this awesome world of lore, I am calling it quits. I started this game Dec, 27, 2004. My son was not even a year old. I ended up getting FFXI for a Christmas present and I figured I'd try it out. The funny thing is that when it first came out for PS2 I say that I would never try it because I could not bring myself to pay for a game I have already bought.

I still remember the first time I logged on. I was half(all the way) drunk. I tried my favorite Final Fantasy characters to no avail. I then in my poor attempt to spell dismal( I blame the Tequila) I came up with Dizzmal. I joined the server of Hades. Back then there was no videos to teach you the basics. I pretty much ran outside and died to the first Orc that I ran into. Later after talking to some people, I found out how to equip gear and use a weapon. Went outside and died to another Orc... Then a Paladin raised me after killing the Orc. I'll never forget the full white glow of the Paladin artifact armor that he carried. His name was Screamingeagle. He gave me a quick rundown of where to level and how to make a little gil along the way. Soon enough I was leveling and on my way to a life of adventure.

I met many adventures along the way, but few were like the first Linkshell I ever joined. I ran into this Dark Knight name TheShadow. He bought me into this den of lions, in my eyes at least. Very shortly after a bunch of people up and left and I was the only person still in there. Not wanting to abandon the Link Pearl, I stayed until someone came and gave me a pearl to the new Linkshell ACROSS. That person was Godofdeath. Probably the most cynical person I have ever met. I'm fairly sure his entire goal in life was to give me hell. Did a damn good job of it as well. In ACROSS I met the people that gave me the biggest impact of my gaming life. Theshadow was the leader with Ladymidnight (his wife) at his side. Of course there was Godofdeath giving everyone hell. We also had Nega, our tech junky, Nyiiyu, the one everyone hit on. Exodus, My brother, Yokorye, one of the respected leaders, and many others that I'm sure I have forgotten over the years.

It was in ACROSS I met one of my best friends that I have ever met. Toprob, my brother from another land. Still to this day I have never met someone that I shared so much in common with. We did everything together. Many hours of sleep were lost trying to keep up, but I always knew that Top would be with me every step of the way. This game was never the same for me after he left.

After joining many Linkshells throughout my travels(OnWingsofDragons, Aristocrats to name a few) I decided to start my own end game Linkshell. ShieldsofValor was born. My leaders were Toprob, Tetsuiga, Swordman, Nega, and myself. With the recruitment of Dannik, Allyrose,Yudaman, Sylnome, Miae, Gooky, Neojuggernaut, Tidus, Fahzewn, Fayrra, Orangecrush,Twist, Alfster, Lind, Jacinda, Dierdren and many others, we accomplished great things over the many years that we ran. The only thing that could stop us was the dreaded zones of Abyssea. Abyssea effectively killed ShieldsofValor as well as many other Linkshells. I don't know if people just didn't want to relearn the game or the fact that it made everything so easy that everyone was just in a mad rush to get all their items and didn't care about getting items for the team anymore. But in anyway, a few months after Abyssea came out, ShieldsofValor ended its reign.

My FFXI career carried on for a few more years. I finally finished the Aegis with help of Allyrose, Neojuggernaut, and countless other people. I'm sure that I will fail to mention tons of people just from the pure amount of people that have touched my life over the past 10 years, for that I apologize.

I will always hold fond memories of my adventures though Vana'diel. There were bad times, but there were a lot more good times. Every time I hear the songs of FFXI I still get chills. Dizzmal will now go to someone I hold in the utmost respect. Someone that when I first met he was a massive blurple Paladin, but grew into one of the most talented and skilled players I have ever know. He surpassed my own skill at Paladin and many other jobs over the years and I have never told him how proud I am of him. He knows who he is.

From the bottom of my heart I thank every one of you for our times together.

Sincerely,
Dizzmal the Paladin.

Zomg...... A New post?!

Hmmm. Somthing has been missing. Has anyone else noticed? Am I the only one that still checks everyone else's blogs? I don't know, but I sure have missed them. Jacinda, Tidis, and everyone else needs to start blogging their asses off again.. Why? Because they are funny. Most of the time. What happened to blogging? Is it that game? Has life become to busy to take the time out to relay what's going on? For me it's been pretty much laziness. Just haven't felt like wanting to blog. Oh well, lets try this again.

I can't believe that it has been that long since my last entry. So much has changed since my last post. My AF3+2 journey is pretty much over. Still need some pieces but they aren't a big item on my list. For those people that don't play the game any more, here are some pictures of the new gear:

The Pld:

The MNK!

After getting my Empy weapon. Thanks to Allyrose and everyone in ColdFusion.

Miae and Gooky. This is for you! The BLM!

And New Blm power!

Drk:

And Last but not least. The OC!

I have leveled other jobs like Nin,Drg,Sam, Thf.. but I just have been to lazy to take Screen shots of their gear. I will do in later posts.

As for the Elemental farming. I have decided(& have already upgraded) to really do Aegis. Right now I just turned in stage 3. So starting on Stage 4 will be the next big challenge. It has always been my goal to finish the Aegis but the cards has just not fallen right in the past. Well this time, stuff is different. Instead up hoarding all the cash, I'm upgrading as I go.. that way I can't sell it this time ......

Anyway. I'm done for rambling tonight. I'll follow up with some decent posts in the future!

Death of Blogging?

Has anyone else noticed that almost everyone has quit blogging? Now it might just be me, but all the blogs I follow has died or people almost never post in them anymore. I blame this one a few things. Could be that everyone is so busy in RL that they no longer have the time to sit and thing of somthing to write about. I find myself in that situation more often than not. On the other hand, it could be that so many people are working on Af3+2's that they aren't having the fun times as much. It's prety much now a grind of gear that, even as awesome as it is, doesn't feel as much of an accomplishment as gear used to.

 I look at my Valor Surcoat  for an example. I started Dynamis in 2006 and over 2 years later, I got my Surcoat. Still one of my most memorable items even gotten in my FFXI carrer. Even though nowmy Creed+2 body rapes it, I got it as a side thing while helping other people. It doesn't mean anywhere near what the Surcoat meant to me. Most of that could aslo be because either while getting the +2 items, it only takes a low amount of people, or because when you upgrade and announce it in LS, you may get one or two people say gratz. It just doesn't feel like you have accomplished the same amount as Salvage,Dynamis,Limbus, etc.

Other than that rant, I have missed the stories, rants from the other people blogging. Even though I haven't been able to blog latley, I still enojy reading the adventures of other people. Anything that can give a break, even if for only a few minutes, from rl.

T-Minus ..... fuc...

Yeah so if your like a majority of the current player waiting to get back on the FFXI servers, your probally going though the same process that I'm going though. That process is the following:

#1 Come home from a long day at work.
#2 Enjoy a good meal from my lovely wife(Exclude Tidis from this since he is gay.)
#3 Watch my son kick my ass on Dragon Ball Z(Then go Super Sayian irl and pummel him with couch cusions.)
#4 Send my wife to work(Thank YOU nightshift!)
#5 skip to the PC room..( Yes I skip dammit... don't hate.)
#6 Start up PoL and wait for the loud ass music.
#7 Watch as it does nothing and I get an error.
#8 /sadface
#9 Try to log on again just to make sure that it wasn't a random error.
#10 /sadface again.
Final Step: Sit and stare at the monitor for the next 30 mins trying to figure out what to do. This may include FFXIAH.com, BG, Windower.net and what ever else bits of FFXI you can get ahold of.

For those of you that feel the same way as I do, I feel your pain.. The ones that don't... STFU.. I have issuses... I know...

Funny thing is that I was really debating on switching servers or fully quitting for good.That was when I COULD access the game.. Now it's like.. MUST PLAYYY!!.. I mean hell I might even be willing to do a run or two of Dynamis.. . . Maybe.

There was a post on the FFXIAH.com forums about what would happen if the servers never come back up. I honestly don't know. I know what I would miss. Like the friendly wave I get from past SoV members that have moved on to new linkshells. The voice of some of the people on vent.. (Omit lynde from that list.) Oh and even the people that let me give them the ever growing amounts of hell and never seem to get mad.. Yes Tidis and Dier I'm talking to you. But most of all,the people that has moved on. The people that I never get to see of get stuff done with. The adventures I had with each and everyone of them will forever be remembered.

 Toprob, my british clone. The only person I've ever seen that could tell me what I was thinking. I met him though a mutual friend, Yokorye, during her Dagger WSNM quests. After that we were brothers in war!We duoed so many things that weren't supposed to be duoed with a pld and Whm. We finished all of ZNM,Cop,ToAU and most of WoTG missions before he finally quit. I remember all the nights we stayed up untill daylight(GMT) to get stuff done. You truly were the brother I never had.

Tetsuiga, the person the pushed me to be better. I met him though Swordman with Aristocratls. Sword's Arc-enemy/brother, Tet was always pushing the envolope to become stronger and make sure he was the most powerful in the LS. His laugh will always be with me.. even more so after he would kill, Top,Myself, or Sword after getting one of us charmed. He is the person that started my obsesion with damage. Tet was always a reasonable person that you could always count on to have a cool head.

Swordman. The alterego of tet. A hot headed little twit that was most random person I think I've ever met. His power and just the straight forward-in-you-face play style is what was the driving force behind my leveling Blm and then Drk. Even though he was moody and could get aggrivated quickly, he was like the little brother of the group. No matter how mad at him you got, you could never stay mad.

Luvaril, This is the person that intruduced me to ballista. even though he never quit made it past level 60, he was one of the funniest blm I've ever seen. I remember back in level 40 cap Ballista hitting him in the back with a holy bolt and hearing him go splat. I love the way a Taru dies. Luv is somewhere in college I hope. He quit before ToAU came out. One of the first of my friends that quit, but by far the funniest.

Probally the person I would miss the most, if I quit/or the servers didn't come back up, would have to be someone that has always thought of everyone else first. Someone that never says no to helping people out. No matter if she hates what she is doing. She does it with a smile. One of the nicest people that I have ever met, even though I give her hell, I would miss Allyrose the most. She is the "Mother" to most the people that was in SoV and the people that is still in AC even if she wont admit it. She goes above and beyond even with little rewards. I hope her rl son knows how good he has it. If not I'll be happy to trade mine for her lol.


Now that I've went of the deep end. my twich has settled down a bit. maybe I wont go home and check PoL untill tomorrow. .... then the /sadface will come back.

Checking In

Can it really be true that it has been since August since I've posted? Nah, can't be... Could it?
Well I guess if that is any indication on how busy irl I have been, multiply it by about x100. A little update on what has happened in the past 5 freaking months since my last post.

Shields of Valor officially ended weekly events in November due to a few major changes in my RL and changes in the game. I was promoted to a position with the company that I get to over see all the stores in southern Mississippi. Oh btw I also get to see after their paper work as well. btw, I hate paperwork. I used to have a nice secretary that used to do that. But the big wigs doesn't think that I needed one anymore. /wrist. btw did I tell you that I hated paperwork... yeah... So days where I used to be able to spend updating SoV's DKP and all that good stuff, oh and update this blog, has all but went out the window. I normally have a stack of paperwork on my desk that would dwarf a galka every morning.... lucky me.

With the changes to work has also come changes to FFXI that has, at the time, rendered my knowledge of the game obsolete. So with the combination of those two events, the LS decided to put runs on hold for a little bit. In that time, people have pretty much stayed for the most part. A nice thing about friendship is that just becuase events has stopped, people still try to find a way to get things done in smaller groups. Which can be good and bad. I'll explain more of that later.

Now on word to Abyssea, which is basiclly all that FFXI is now. I pretty much loved Abyssea when it first came out. A way to get massive exp in short time was just amazing. Then the new gear came out and it was pretty easy to get. So yeah, more love for Abyssea.. Then came the weakness procs... My loved floundered a bit.. No longer could you just kill the shit out of stuff, you now had to proc a certain color of BS to get a certain drop you wanted... Oh well. np just somthing new to learn. Then came the Atmas. Little things that you could get that could make you more powerful than a full alliance that didn't have them... It was incredible the amount of damage that mages/DD could push out now with these little (huge) shots of steroids. After being outnuked by a sch that had gear that made you want to cry it was so bad on my Blm,which most of you know that is no slacker, I had to make some adjustments. When I say outnuked, I mean my Thunder IV hit 1900s in Abyssea with no Atmas, and this person was putting down 2600-2800s and was nuking in level 10 Int rings.... yeah that hurt my feelings. So then I went on my Atma conquest, which now I'm finally done.for the most part. But now since I've wasted so much time in Abyssea with atmas, that I'm lacking stones, another reason for me to hate Abyssea... Why SE couldn't just make it a normal zone is beyond me.. No now they want you to worry about time the entire time your in there. Just for kicks...

So I finally got all my atmas and have started really gettin the hang of the fights. I'm starting to get pretty familer with the NMs and how to do it that I feel confident in farming seals for groups now... Well that was before last night and I had a freak wyvren rape the shit out of us... Not once.. but twice... Everything goes pretty smooth untill it starts this hundred first Fang Rush shit that pretty much rapes the shit out of me, MJ and who ever else is close.. with the exception of Allyrose.. she lived though it untill it hit her with a 3K hurricane breath... I have to admit I did laugh a bit when that happened. So yeah, now I'm at the point where I flat out hate Abyssea.. Only bad thing about hating Abyssea, is that we all need Abysssea. The gear is just amazing and yeah that is all this game is about in the end. Getting that almighty lastest greatest piece that make you glow(in your own mind) when you walk by your friends.

Oh well, maybe I'll stick to the old Abyssea zones untill more info is out on the newer Nms.. who the hell needs the new stuff the momment it comes out... Oh that's right.. everyone lol...

A Week to Remember

I've had a damn good week to put it lightly. In one week I finished my Black Belt, got Melee Gloves +1, Abyss Cape, Lemegeton Medallion +1, and a Thew bomblet. I'm pretty sure that this week was the most I've gotten in one week that I can remember. Thanks to everyone that helped me.

Monday was pretty uneventful mainly because we are starting to get out of our habit of Sky and work into fully moving into Abyssea. We are now only farming the NMs that people need and that the seals are extremly expensive to buy.

Thursday ShieldsofValor went to go tackle the Ks99s, which I posted on the other night (see mindless rambling on prior post.) Long story short, Black Belt = MINE! After Neo thought it would be funny to kill me, mulitple times trying to a JoF, which we never quite all got there to kill. Oh well, have to try again another night.

Saturday Aristocrats went in to Dynamis-Bubu and had an amazing run. So amazing that SE decided that half way though, to cut us off. Anyway, with about 20 people we took out the megaboss and started kicking ass. 4 drops, almost back to back, got everyone in good spirits. Then Melee Gloves -1 dropped. Woot. Not a huge upgrade, but damn if it didn't make my Mnk happy as hell. Then moving to Effts, we got 2 Mnk capes almost back to back. It pretty much continued like this untill the half way point of the run. Abyss cape dropped, and I was like ZOMG! the AF gods was with us that night.. Allyrose being the sweetheart that she is(Probally felt me starring her down though the moniter) passed the cape, and that completed my great week. Now with my Drk pretty much complete and my Mnk not far behind, I'm looking to finish Pld gear, which may present a problem since I am needing some HNM stuff like Defending ring. But I can pretty much forget that pipe dream.

I guess we all have to have goals no matter how out of reach they seem. After the whole peithaisabitch incident, I had little hope of Aristocrats doing dreamland runs so quickly nor did I imagine that we would have our largest payout in the history of Aristocrats. Alot of that is thanks to Miae, Gooky, and the hard work that the members  put in to get them. Congrats to all the AF winners from Dreamlands. Just makes peitha look that much more like a douchebag.. Hope that 15M was worth it. lol