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

Kung Fu Masta!!!

Well maybe not, but I'm a alot closer on game than I was the night before. That right, after almost 3 years of being 2/3 on BB items, I finally have my Black Belt thanks to ShieldofValor and 2 special people that made that dream come true.

Some of you know that I have been struggling with BB items for so long that I had almost completely lost interest in Mnk. After so many "Hills are Alive" KS99 and countless time I would even try to buy from a HNMls, I pretty much gave up and focused fully on my Drk, which in all senses, became my main DD for FFXI. But Mnk always burned in the back of my mind. When Fahzewn started to inquire about Ks99 again due to the fact that it's been awhile since SoV did them. I've been hesitant because SoVs normall attendance has been a bit low, but I scheduled a run anyway.

 The first fight we had to knock some rust off. It seemed no matter what we did to the damn turtle, it would go back in the shell randomly and regen to full health at it's own choosing. We ended up running out of time.... Pissed off and dissapointed, I was ready to go to a different KS battle. But we stayed. I knew this would be our hardest KSNM for the main reason that we had a lack of magic damage power. With only 4 Blm and a Sch, it would be tough. Luckly Neo was able to get Shaan to come help. So with 5 Blm + 1 sch we entered again. We also switched up our strat a bit against the twat... I mean turtle. This time, we really gave it hell. Kicking it's ass in a decent time for the amount of Mages. I had everyone run out and I popped the chest.... then shat myself.. Adamantoise Egg!!!. but that feeling was quickly subdued by the knowledge that I had no right to it.. Then the unexpected happend. An act of kindness(and mercy lol) from Fahzewn and Fayrra. I had accepted the fact that Fahzewn would lot the egg and I would be crossing my fingers for another egg to drop. When Fay/Fah said in linkshell for me to lot the egg, I became speachless, which is pretty hard for me since I never seem to shut up. Fay/Fah made a dream come true last night. Almost a full year since I had given up hope on Black Belt, I finally had the chance to put it on.. Funny thing was the amount of times I died trying to help Neo's JoF run. But that's a story for another day.

Back To The Daily Grind.

Ah back to the normal run of things in FFXI. What could be better? oh yeah, everything lol. Na j/k I'm enjoying the game again for the first time in awhile. Everything seems to be moving along just normal.

ShieldsofValor is growing. Not so much in members, but more in what we are aiming at. With the gear choices in Abyssea, more and more members are leaning towards that event full time. The only problem will be is with the payout system of SoV and if the members want to give up that bit of gil at the end of the month. That will be up for debate. Now as far as the weekly run down.

Monday we went up for a Kirin ass kicking, Zerg style. As expected, he went down like a little bitch(or Neo take your pick lol). Kirin didn't even scratch us before he met his end. You could see the difference in kill speed with lv 80 in place of most of our current DD. We still had more Kirins, so we tried somthing new. Kirin zerg with no 2 hours. So we did everything that we normal do, with exception of 2 hours. Well the fight started normaly, with Kirin going down a little slower, but still a good steady kill rate. Then Disaster(or Carby) either way you want to call it. Carby blows his 2 hour and 80% of our members hit the dirt. Well Kirin was still at around 40% at that time, so the rest of us do our best, but the damage just wasn't there. we finally Wipe to Kirin @ 20% when Suzy popped. For a run with no 2 hours and crap luck with carby, I think we did well. If nothing else, it was fun.

Tuesday Aristocratls was in Dynamis Xarc to hopfully finish up getting some people their AFs that they have been looking for, for a long time. What started off as a slow run, quickly became a great run with 2 Whm hands, and a number of other drops. Funny part is that even with a few big links, we held strong to the point where Shamus was trying to kill us. Then towards the end of the run he did just that. He pulled the Relic staves unexpectedly. First it was panic, then death. Then Shamus loled. . Well that's what we get by pissing off the Taru.

Thursday we finished up Kirin with another zerg. Pretty uneventful other than some really shitty drops. Oh well. The rest of us hit up Abyssea for some Exp later on and that rounded out our night.

That was pretty much all I played that weekend so fast forward to Monday of this week. Dominik had some Kittys to pop, and we like gil so we killed them for him. One thing I noticed is that holy shit these things go down fast. We only had about 13-14 people, so it wasn't even a full alliance and max life span of byakko was around 1-2 mins. Not bad considering his 2 hour. Anyway, Dom finished the night with 3/4 Byakko haidates and we finished the night with a little bit larget wallet. Afterwards we aimed at abyssea again to get more merits/exp

Ah I almost forgot, I got a new toy!. Plaga scythe woot! Now that's a story in it's own and it also serves as my Douchebag of The Day Award.

Dannik and I decided to camp that scythe for Yudaman and myself. So we set out for the Abyssean worm NM. When we got there it looked like someone had just claimed him, but it wasn't damaged and no one was around.. Weird. So when it unclaimed, I jumped on it. then started going through my motions. Then came the /tells. I felt bad, so I invited them into alliance. After everyone got there, the worm went splat quickly. One of the easier NMs that I can remember. After the kill, it dropped! So I was quick to lot, only to be outlotted by the other guy that I had just let join. Damn my conscious! oh well, I'll get them next time... or so I thought. At the next pop there was 3 Blm there killing it,Zigounette,Punishment,and a third(Don't remember the name) . Only problem was that they sucked and after getting hit but the 3rd stonega III and the taru dying, they ran off and it unclaimed @ around 90% hp. So dannik claimed it. and we proceded to kill it. Now we had to face the fact that they linked four other worms and try to dodge Stonega IIIX3+Quake+Stone V. we where doing well and had ot down to 20-30% when I messed up and got pwned by the Stone V(The one I forgot) and splat, down I went. So dannik couldn't kill it with his thf with only a ranged attack, so we had to let it unclaim. During this entire time, we get threats from Zigounette that he is going to kill us(lolInternetztoughguy) and that he is coming to get us. Yeah we got our laughs out of it. Then after I get killed, he kicks it up a notch. I found out somthing new about myself, #1 I bought my character. Yep I sure did, over the past 6-7 years I've paid dearly for this guy. #2 I'm an uber noob since I don't have a maat;s cap. Yeah the punk said that. Oh btw he was nuking in a Maats cap, Errant body and diamon rings... Hardcore, I know. So they kill the last 20% and go to talking shit again. Let me make this clear, the only one talking shit was Zigounette. the one that got killed during the start of the fight Punisher didn't say anything is say or /tells. He was was only a part of the group. Anyway after the 4th camp, I finally got my scythe. I can honestly say that over the Moliones's Sickle, the Plaga kicks ass. My first night of testing it out put me 150K in 2 1/2 hours over the second place DD who was an Ebody War. I bet that made him feel really good about that Ebody now. Yeah I know I look like I just got off of the assembley line, but you have 1 of 2 options. #1 change with the updates and improve yourself, or #2 stick with your old ass gear that used to be pimp and be out damaged by the guy you used to call Gimp(and probally still do.) Then enjoy being midgrade... That only last for so long.

My rant is finally over lol.. On a sad note, We say goodbye permently to Miae and Gooky as they decided to move on with their lives. They tried to right a wrong commeted by Peitha by donating their uber gear to AC and some of the members to improve their play. You two will always be missed, and never forgoten. I wish you both luck in anything you ever do. Take care and hopfully you wont forget the people of FFXI and all the crazy fun we had.